​Harrisburg, PA – Governor Tom Wolf today marked the start of an $89 million reconstruction project on a six-mile portion of Route 283 in Dauphin County, the largest slated to begin in the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s eight-county, south central region’s $533 million construction season.

In the PennDOT Engineering District 8 region spanning Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Perry and York counties, PennDOT anticipates repairing and resurfacing 547 miles of highways and fixing or replacing 154 bridges this year.

“This is PennDOT’s biggest project to get underway this year in south central Pennsylvania and it’s going to make a big difference for the thousands of motorists who travel in this area,” PennDOT Secretary Leslie S. Richards said. “This significant project is just one part of a much bigger construction program to improve highway transportation in the mid-state.”

The Route 283 project in Dauphin County includes the total reconstruction of the existing highway between Eisenhower Boulevard in Lower Swatara Township and Route 341 in Londonderry Township. In addition to the highway reconstruction, the project also includes the rehabilitation of 11 bridges – eight mainline bridges on Route 283 and three overhead bridges. The emphasis in 2017 will be preparation work on Route 283 and the rehabilitation of the three overhead bridges – the Newberry Road, Union Street and Vine Street bridges over Route 283.

PennDOT has contracted with Hempt Bros., Inc. of Camp Hill, Pa., for this $89,464,909 reconstruction project. The contractor has been surveying the project and will complete other preparation activities in the coming weeks. Night work is scheduled to begin in June with milling and paving the shoulders along Route 283 in preparation for next year. In mid-June, the contractor will begin paving crossovers in the median, also in preparation for next year. Rehabilitation work on the Newberry Road bridge over Route 283 is scheduled to start in mid-June and rehabilitation of the Union Street and Vine Street bridge should begin in early July.

Also, as part of the project, in 2019 a new traffic pattern will be established in the interchange between Route 283 and Interstate 283, in front of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. A new traffic signal will be installed at the west end of the bridge that carries Route 283 over the I-283 connection with the Pennsylvania Turnpike and a new ramp will be built from the location of the traffic signal to the entrance of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. After the new traffic signal and new ramp are completed, the existing loop ramp in the interchange from westbound Route 283 to southbound I-283 will be removed. This will help improve safety by eliminating the current crisscrossing of traffic between motorists on southbound I-283 headed to eastbound Route 283 toward Lancaster and those motorists entering southbound I-283 toward the turnpike from the ramp from westbound Route 283.

The overall project will finish in late 2020. An average of nearly 56,000 vehicles use this portion of Route 283 daily.

Also at the event, Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission CEO Mark Compton explained that the area is being further improved with work the commission is completing this week.

“On Tuesday, we began making needed improvements to three on/off ramps at the cloverleaf interchange linking PA 283 to I-283,” Compton said. “Tonight, we will complete the third and final mill-and-pave project to put a fresh, two-inch layer of pavement on these well-used ramps and make them smoother for customers as the bigger PennDOT project is underway.”

Compton said the Turnpike’s contractor will close the ramp carrying northbound I-283 traffic from the Harrisburg East Toll Plaza to Eisenhower Boulevard starting at 7:00 PM. tonight through 6:00 AM on May 5. On May 2, crews repaved the ramp carrying Eisenhower Boulevard traffic onto I-283 South to the Harrisburg East Toll Plaza. On May 3, crews repaved the ramp carrying westbound State Route 283 traffic onto I-283 South to the Harrisburg East Toll Plaza.

In the rest of the mid-state, several major construction projects are underway:• the $34.2-million project to replace three bridges over Interstate 83 in preparation late next year for a project to rebuild and widen I-83 between the Eisenhower Interchange and Interstate 81; • the $13.6-million widening of I-81 with ramp extensions between I-83 (Exit 70) and Mountain Road (Exit 72) in Dauphin County; • the $19.5-million widening of I-81 with ramp extensions between Route 114 (Exit 57) and Route 581 (Exit 59) in Cumberland County; and • the $58.3-million realignment and reconstruction of I-83 at the Exit 18 interchange with Mount Rose Avenue in York County.

The public can view maps detailing the year’s current plans in each of the region’s eight counties at www.penndot.gov under “Regional Offices” on the district’s construction projects page: Adams County; Cumberland County; Dauphin County; Franklin County; Lancaster County; Lebanon County; Perry County; and York County.

For more information on projects occurring or being bid this year, those made possible by or accelerated by the state transportation funding plan (Act 89), or those on the department’s Four and Twelve Year Plans, visit www.projects.penndot.gov.

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